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All right, amen. So here we are in Exodus chapter number 33. And of course, this is probably one of the, excuse me, I had a chocolate chip cookie a moment ago. So and so did several other of you. So don't don't sit there and judge. I know, you know, several other people always choose. Mrs. Gardere is about ready to get up and just make her look back. Make sure you leave her some. I don't want to get her upset. But excuse me, we get the chocolate chip cookie out of there. But of course, Exodus chapter 33 is a very familiar passage. This is something we're all familiar with the story of Moses going up and being with the Lord, receiving the law. And what I want to point out tonight is in verse 11, where it says, And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend, and he turned again into the camp. But his servant Joshua, the son of none, young man, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. And there's a lot we could preach just out of that verse alone. But what I want to focus in on is where it says there that he spoke unto Moses, what as a man speaketh unto his friend. And Moses, obviously, is one of the several people in the Bible that are referred to as the friend of God. And this is something that should be very encouraging to us. The fact that there are people that are referred to as the friend of God throughout scripture. Now, if you would look there in Exodus chapter 34. Well, let's let's look at verse 12 there again. And I know we just read it, but we're going to go over it real quick again here. This just this bit here. And we'll we'll jump ahead here. Verse 17. And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken for, that thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. So Moses is making this request of him, and he's saying, I'll do this thing also that thou hast spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. So the Lord is expressing this relationship that he has with him. He's saying, I'm willing to do even more for you to go beyond. Why? Because he is the friend of God. Okay. And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And this is, you know, kind of a bold request on Moses's part. Moses is asking to behold the glory of God from from God, the father here. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to him, I will be gracious and show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And he said, thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see my face and live. He says, I'll cause my glory to pass before you, Moses, but you cannot see my face for no man can see my face and live. So really, when you think about it, Moses, in a sense, has seen more of God the father than any other human being. Okay. And it says in verse 21, and the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me and thou shalt stand upon a rock and it shall come to pass when my glory passeth by, that it will put thee in the cliff of the rock and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. So how I kind of envision this is he's not put like literally into a lock, but maybe there's a, you know, some kind of an opening in this rock, big enough to kind of fit him in there. You know, if we go hiking in some of these areas, sometimes you'll come in those little narrow passages that you have to turn sideways. And some of us have to really suck it in, you know, to get through some more than others. Right. But it's something like that. There's something with this formation where Moses is able to get just a glimpse, just a small narrow view of God passing by in front of him. He doesn't have a real peripheral view. He can't see God kind of coming from a distance and take and leaving at a distance. But there's going to be this moment when God, the father walks in front of him and he's able to see his glory for just a moment. In fact, he says, when I pass by, I will cover thee with my hand. So meaning he's probably just, he's going to put his hand before he even gets there and kind of cover that part of the rock that Moses is looking through. Then he's going to step in front of it. And then he's going to allow him to see his back parts as he goes on and says, so he's, he's covering him up. And of course, this is a great picture of Christ. You know, we're going to behold God, the father, when we are in the rock, right? That's how we're going to get a glimpse of God's glory when we're within the rock. It's a beautiful illustration of Christ. But he says in verse 23, and I will take my hand away and thou shall see my back parts, but thou shalt not, but my face shall not be seen. So this is a very famous story. And it was something that God didn't necessarily have to request to Moses or to grant to Moses. You know, Moses makes this request. He says, you know what? I'll go ahead. I can't do everything. I can't let you see my face, but I'll tell you what, Moses, I'll let you see some of my glory. I won't let you see everything. So, you know, why is that? Why is that Moses gets this, this privilege? I mean, I don't know about you, but you know, that's quite the site to behold. I think that's really something. And Moses was granted that. And not only was it, you know, a site to behold, but think about the effect that it had, this closeness that he had with God. Well, he was allowed to see that because of the fact that he had this relationship with the Lord. He's up there, you know, several times for days and nights on end. He's spending a lot of time writing the law, listening to God and giving the law. He's spending a great deal of time, fellowship with the Lord, speaking to him as a man speaketh to his friend, right? And if you look there in Exodus 34, we see this fulfilled. And it says there in verse six, well, verse five, and the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering and abundant and kindness, excuse me, and goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and then will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children under the third and fourth generation. And Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. So I believe that's where he's fulfilling that promise, that he would cover that up and he would allow to see his glory. But what I want to point out is, you know, first of all, why is he allowed to do this? You know, why is this request fulfilled? Well, because of the fact that, you know, he has this relationship with Moses. He has this relationship with Moses, has this relationship with God. It's a unique relationship. Not everybody there has that. In fact, of all the children of Israel, it's really, he's the only one that's said of, that he spake to him as a man speaks to his friend. That kind of, you know, gives him that privilege. Notice also the effects of this fellowship that he had with him. If you look there in Exodus 34, verse 28, this is, again, something we're all probably very familiar with. It says in verse 28, and he was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights. He did neither eat bread nor drink water. And I believe that was because he had no need that God was sustaining him miraculously. Okay. And he wrote upon the tables, the words of the covenant, the 10 commandments. And it came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the Mount, that Moses was not, meaning he knew not, that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. So he comes down and his skin is literally glowing from the fact that he spent so much time in the presence of God. The Bible says the law of the Lord, what, enlightens the eyes. You know, if we spend time with God, you know, our skin isn't going to glow. Okay. We're never, of course, a very unique, there's a miracle. Okay. And we're never going to stand in that much of the presence of God as Moses did, you know, on this earth. But the illustration is, is that, you know, if you begin to spend time with God, if you spend time with the Lord, other people will notice. It'll show up in your life. You'll start to reflect God in your life. And that's something we should all want. That's the effects of fellowship. It says there in verse 30, and when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses behold the skin of his face shown, and they were afraid to come nigh him. And Moses called unto them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him. And Moses talked with them. And afterward, all the children of Israel came nigh. And he gave them in commandment, all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. Can I get a glass of water, please? Thank you. What did you do to those chocolate chip cookies? That's my own, my own fault. I knew I was going to get one if I had one. Didn't have one right then. I know how you Baptists are. It's a small plate. And I knew they're all going to be gone if I get back there. Now I'm paying for it. Verse 34. But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the veil off. So he had put on, verse 33, until Moses had done speaking with him, he put a veil on his face. So they're literally saying, Moses, you need to cover that up. You need to get that veil on your face so that we could speak with you. Thank you. So this is the unique effect of having fellowship with God in this circumstance. Moses' circumstances were very unique. However, I'll say this. Moses' circumstances were not exclusive. Obviously, they're unique in the sense that we're never going to be put in a cliff of a rock. God's never going to pass by before us like that. Our skin is never going to shine like that. We're never going to have that kind of a unique set of circumstances. However, the circumstances that we're in in terms of the fact that he was the friend of God is not something that's exclusive to Moses. In fact, today, I believe that if we so desire it, we can, although it might not be said of anybody, it might not be known by anybody else, it might not be proclaimed in the holy word of God, but we can have a fellowship with God to the point where we are friends with the Lord. We can be friends with God. Think about the fact that others are also considered friends in the scripture. If you would, you can leave Exodus and go over to the book of John, John chapter number 15. I'll read to you from John 11. It says in verse 11, These things said he, and after that he said unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth. So that's Jesus talking. And he's saying, our friend Lazarus, meaning Lazarus is the friend of Jesus. Jesus is God. We see there's more than one instance in the scripture where people are referred to as God's friend. James chapter three, the Bible says, the scripture was fulfilled in the name of Jesus. Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, for he was called the friend of God. And you say, well, you know, of course Abraham, of course Moses, of course a guy like Lazarus who was raised from the dead, they'll be called the friends of God, but can we really be called the friends of God? Well, look at John chapter number 15, verse 15. He said, henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth, but I have called you friends, speaking to his apostles, his disciples, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. You know, what I'm trying to get across tonight is the fact that you can be the friend of God. I believe that. You know, we can be, have such a close fellowship with the Lord that it could be to the point where God treats us almost as you would a friend. And actually this is a really important thing to consider. It's something to really get a hold of because we don't, not just for the privilege of being God's friend, not just for the things that God might go above and beyond for you as a friend. I mean, that's what friends do for one another. But you need to consider the fact because, you need to consider the fact that this relationship with something is available to us because of the fact that, you know, we need to be able to know how we ought to treat God. You know, we think about, oh, be the friend of God. That means God's gonna behave a certain way towards me. And that's true, but that's not just gonna happen by itself. You're not just gonna automatically become the friend of God. And I wanna preach a sermon tonight entitled Befriending God, Befriending God, or Making God Your Friend. How to make friends with God. And that's something that we can do. I believe that. I believe that we can have a close walk with God, but a friendship, you know, is something that is a two-way street. I mean, think about all the friends in your life. How do you, you know, if you have any, how do you treat your friends? Do you treat them poorly? I hope not. If you do, they probably won't be around long. How do they treat you? You know, we typically don't make friends with people that we don't like. We don't make friends with people that treat us poorly. And look, here's another one. We don't make friends with people that we ignore, right? If we want to be friends with God, if we wanna have this unique relationship, if we wanna have this, then we can't ignore God. We can't just put, you know, get around to spending time with God. It should be something that we desire. We desire to spend time with our friend. So I just wanna make a few points tonight about befriending God, how to make friends with God. Of course, this isn't an exhaustive list, but there's a few things I think that we can consider that might help us deepen our relationship with the Lord. It says, well, first of all, let me just make my point here. How to befriend God. Well, one, friends share common interests, don't they? I mean, just say how to become friends with God. Well, just think about your own friendships. Thinking about what makes a friendship between you and another person, okay? Because God is a person. Well, friends share common interests, don't they? And I'm gonna put another important lesson about friendship in this sermon as well, because you don't wanna be friends with everybody. There's some people that you do not wanna be friends with. Friendships are very influential and powerful relationships. I mean, what we read in Exodus should show us that. The friendship that Moses had with God had such an influence with him that his face shone that other people noticed to the point where they were afraid, so I put a veil over that. Cover that up, you're scaring us, okay? That shows us that friendships are very powerful influences in our lives, and we oughta be careful about the people that we befriend in our lives, that we make our friends. Friends share common interests, that's for better or worse. You say, what was the common interest between Moses and the Lord? Well, it was the word of God, it was the law, it was God's people. Those were the things that they were both concerned with. Moses is leading God's people, he's giving them the law, he's the one that's coming down from the mount with the tablets of stone, he's the one that's teaching and expounding the law of God to God's people. That was something they both had in a similar interest. Him and God both had that in common. They both had concern for the word of God and the people of God, and that's a good thing. Go to 2 Samuel chapter 13, 2 Samuel chapter 13. Keep something in John, I should've told you that, but keep something in John. You're gonna be in John and in Proverbs later, all night, so you're gonna have to use more than one finger tonight. But friends, they share, you say, how do we become friends with God? Well, how do you become friends with anybody else? You typically gravitate towards the people that you have common interest with, the people that you maybe share a passion, you're passionate about some hobby or whatever it might be, some pastime that you're involved in. A lot of times you'll form friendships based around that, things that you're into. Friends share common interests, however, that's a two-edged sword, that can work against you too, okay? Look at Amnon and Jonadab here. It says in 2 Samuel chapter 13, verse one, and it came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister whose name was Tamar, and Amnon the son of David loved her. And Amnon was so vexed that he fell sick for his sister, Tamar. If you know the story, it says half-sister. Still weird, okay? It doesn't make any less weird. This is a wicked thought that he has. This is a wicked desire that he has in his heart. It's not right to lust after his half-sister, for she was a virgin, and Amnon thought it hard for him to do anything to her. So he has this love for her, he has this attraction for her, but he at least says, well, you know, I can't do anything to her though. I can't actually act on these impulses. But, verse three, those famous words, but Amnon had a friend. What was the source of his downfall? What brought Amnon down? It was the friend that he had. It was a friendship. It was a relationship that caused him to go and commit that wicked act upon his sister, and ultimately lead to, you know, a civil war within the nation of Israel. It had, you know, very profound consequences, didn't it? Very grave consequences of friendship. We had to be very careful about who it is that we befriend in our lives, the influences that we allow to come in. Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimei, David's brother, and Jonadab was a very subtle man. Now, they both had similar interests, didn't they? Because they both were wicked. They both had this perverse idea in their head, okay? And they were both friends, you know, because they were similar types of people. People becomes friends with people they share common interests with. Be careful about the friends that you make because they're gonna try to get you into what they're into, okay? The bad, and this is something I've said often and will continue to say because it's something that we need to be reminded of over and over is that the bad make the good bad. And the bad make the bad even worse. I mean, that's what happened in this story. Amnon was bad for having this thought, but at least he thought it was hard to do anything. He wasn't gonna act on it. He was bad, but then he had this friendship that was bad and that made him even worse. The bad always make the bad, or the good bad, and they always make the bad even worse than they are. That's how it goes. And people get this idea sometimes in their head that they're going to befriend somebody and make them better. They'll say, well, I know she's not saved. Oh, I know he's not saved, but I like them so much. I love them so much. I'm gonna marry this person and then I'm gonna get them saved and then they're gonna be some godly Christian. Maybe, maybe, but is that how you want, is that really how you wanna live your life on a maybe? Whoa, because think about maybe not. What's the worst that could happen? They could become a reprobate or they could just ruin your Christian life. I mean, all kinds. I mean, you're opening the door to all kinds of terrible things in marriage, and that's obviously kind of an extreme example, but even in just your run-of-the-mill day-to-day friendships, the people that you spend time with, they're going to have an influence on you for better or worse. So make godly influences or godly friendships. Go to Proverbs, chapter number six. Proverbs, chapter number six. Look, there's people out there in this world who just want to ruin you. They're bad, they're no good, they're rotten. Rather than getting better, they just wanna tear everybody else down around them. There's people like this out in the world and we can't be naive to this and the Bible warns us about this. This idea that bad people are just gonna try to make you worse than you are. And if you are a good person, it puts a target on your back. If you're the godly young man, that loose girl that runs around and messes around with whoever, she's gonna wanna get with you and vice versa. That's what the Bible warns us of there in Proverbs, chapter six, verse 26. For by means of a whorish woman, a man is brought to a piece of bread and the adulterous will hunt for the precious life. She hunts for it. She goes looking for it. For the precious life. That one that's pure, that one that's virgin, that one that's godly, that one that's trying to keep himself for his wedding day, her wedding day. That's who they go after sometimes because they want to ruin other people. And a lot of times that will happen in the form of a friendship. Go to Proverbs, chapter number 22. Look, friendships have powerful influences on you. That's what we should have learned from the stories that we've looked at so far with God and Moses, powerful for the better, right? Powerful, because they shared a common interest. Amnon and John Adeb, a very powerful thing happened, very significant things came of that relationship for the worse and they shared similar interests. The Bible says in Amos three in Proverbs 22, it says, can two walk together except they be agreed. Wicked people, they don't wanna be friends with good people. The ungodly, unsaved, wicked person who's just into all kinds of sin. They're not interested in the Bible. They're not into going to church and going soul winning and reading the Bible and talking about the things of the Lord. They're not interested in that. They're interested in what they're interested in and whatever that is. And you're not gonna change them. They're just gonna try to get you to do what they're doing. That's how it happens every time, all the time. I mean, that's what we see with the entire nation of Israel. You know, they don't run all the Canaanites out. They leave that remnant there. They don't thoroughly get everybody out of the land and eventually it comes back and they are just as bad as them in time. That's the lesson we can learn from that. Look at Proverbs 22 verse 24, make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man, thou shalt not go lest he get angry with thee, lest he gets furious with you and hurts you. Is that what it says? Don't be friends with an angry man with a furious man because he might do something bad to you. No, lest thou learn his ways, lest you end up just like him. Don't make friends with this person because you're gonna end up like him. Thou shalt learn his ways. He'll teach you how to do it and get a snare to thy soul. We need to pay attention to the relationships that we have in our lives. We have to desire the right kind of friendships and the greatest friendship you could ever desire is a friendship with God. We ought to want to befriend God in our lives. And understand that bad people don't want good friends. They're not interested in it. Go back to John chapter number three. So are you sure about that? Are you sure that there aren't some bad people out there? Maybe I know they're not saved. I know they don't live for the things of God, but maybe if I hang around them long enough, they'll kind of come around. No, they're gonna make you worse. Mark it down. John chapter three verse 20, for everyone that doeth evil hateth the light. Doesn't say they tolerate it. Doesn't say they're willing to put up with it. Doesn't really say, well, I know you have your way of doing things and I have mine, but we can still be friends. No, they hate the light. They hate it. They can't stand it. They don't like to hear about the Bible. They don't like to hear about godly living. They don't like to hear about righteousness. They don't like to hear about these things. They hate it. Neither cometh to the light. They're not going to come to that light. Lest his deeds should be reproved. They don't want to be told they're wrong. But he that doeth truth come to the light that his deeds may be manifest, that they are wrought in God. So you have to be careful about the friendships that you make. And look, sometimes when you have friendships, when you start to understand this idea that bad people don't want good friends, that bad people are out there to just make the good worse, that they hate the light, that they don't want to come to the light. You know, when you start to decide what kind of friendships you're going to have in your life, you might have to cut some people off. You might have to end some friendships. And that's just the way it works. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 6. 2 Corinthians chapter number 6. The Bible says in James 4, ye adulterers and adulteresses, knowing not that friendship of the world is enmity with God. You know, when you start to choose the right friendships, it might come at the expense of other friendships. Because what's it saying in James there? That the friendship of the world is enmity with God. So you have to ask yourself, what would you want to be at enmity with God, or do you want to not be a friend of the world? Because it seems to me like that's the choices that we have. We can either be the friends of the world and then be at enmity with God, or we can be friends with God and be at enmity with the world. I think the choice is pretty obvious. But what I'm trying to get across is that in order to have that friendship with God, in order to befriend God, you have to choose friends at the expense of others. 2 Corinthians chapter number 6, verse 14. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath what? Light with darkness. Going right back to what we are reading in John chapter 3. Light and darkness can't coincide. They have no communion. They can't get along. They're opposed to one another. What communion hath light with darkness? What communion hath fellowship? That's another word for friendship, right? We fellowship with one another, have unrighteousness with unrighteousness. They don't go together. And if you're going to have, if you're going to be somebody who's righteous, if you're going to walk in the light, as he is in the light, you're not going to be able to have friendship with darkness and unrighteousness in your life. It's just not going to work. Or you're going to end up at enmity with God. You know, and this is something that I learned on, you know, learned very early on in my Christian life. And I, and I certainly don't want to go into the way I was before I got saved. But let me just say this. You know, I was some friends with some people that were not Christians and leave it at that. That were into things that Christians not, not, not to be into. And I remember when I started, you know, I got saved and decided to start living for the Lord and start trying to live a godly life and going to church and reading the Bible. When I started attending an independent fundamental Baptist church three times a week and was King James only and started wearing a tie and a suit and going to church and singing the hymns and trying to live a godly life. You know, those old friends started to notice. And then finally one of them took me aside and said, look, you can't do both. Everyone's talking. And they're saying, you know, you're a hypocrite. And I was. You can't sit here and preach Christ and preach righteousness and then go out and hang out and do the things that you're doing. What they didn't expect is for me to choose God. They were all expecting me. Well, sorry guys. I didn't mean to offend you. You're right. Let me just come back. And from one day to the next, I was just gone. Cause I was, you know, it was, you know, ironically, it was one of them that brought me to this decision in my life. And I realized, look, I can't do both. I can't have one foot walking with God and another foot walking with the world. You're going to trip. You're going to stumble. You're going to fall. You're going to go around in circles. Two cannot walk together, except they be agreed. That's what the Bible says. Light cannot have fellowship with darkness. And friendships are powerful things that will have tremendous influences on our lives. And they need to be chosen wisely. So from one day to the next, I mean, I was gone. And look, I know that some people don't like hearing that. And it might even mean you have to be maybe a little bit friendless. I mean, you still have God as your friend, but I'll tell you what I'll tell you. But I'll tell you what. There was years that went by early on in my Christian life where honestly, besides a bunch of people that were, you know, 20 and more or more years older than me at church, I really didn't have any friends. You know, I was 20 something years old. My best friend is 60. You know, I met him at a restaurant and it was, you know, I'll just tell the story. I remember after I'd made this decision and I went down to the cottage in the, it was this old cafe up in Michigan. I remember sitting there in that booth by myself, choking back tears and saying to God, all I want is a friend. That's all I wanted. I said, I've been alone. I've made this decision. I'm not running around with these guys anymore. I'm not doing those things anymore, Lord, but I'm lonely and I could use a friend. I remember walking out and I heard someone talking and that he was in some part of the restaurant where there was a TV on. And I heard this guy talking about Noah's Ark because he had the TV on like, you know, some channel where they're talking about something Bible. Okay. I don't remember all the details, but I just heard it and I said, yeah, something. And then I said something about it. And then he said, well, are you Christian? Yeah. And the next thing I know, I'm hanging out with Richard Hannah for the next, you know, three or four years until he passed away. And he's taking me fishing. And, you know, God answered that prayer. Isn't that ironic that very night that I'm sitting there asking God for a friend. I walk out of that same restaurant and God's like, well, here you go. And, you know, he was a good godly influence on me early on in my Christian life. I'll never forget that. But you know what? I never would have had that friendship if I hadn't left all those other ones behind. You know, I wouldn't have the friendship that I have with God if I hadn't left all those other ones behind because you cannot be a friend of the world and a friend of God. It's not possible. It makes you, puts you at enmity with God, the Bible says. It's the exact opposite of friendship. That's what it says in second Corinthians chapter number six. We just read it. Go back to Proverbs chapter number 18. You know, so we have this choice. It's between God and anyone else. You know, we have to choose who do we want to be friends with? God and anyone else. And look, nobody else should become between you and God. Every single time I'm going to either be friends with the world or friends with God. God, it's a no brainer. It's second nature. At least it ought to be. You know, friends share common interests for better or worse. They're powerful influences. And sometimes we have to choose our friends at the expense of others. How's another, what's another way you can befriend God? How can you make friends with God? Well, again, just thinking about what it means to how we make friendships in our lives with other people. Friends spend time with one another, don't they? I mean, you can't really call somebody of your friend, their friend if you've never talked to them, never spending time with them. You know, if you say, hey, so and so is my friend, chances are you've spent some degree of time with them. And then you know what they're like, you know what they're into. You know, you enjoy spending time with that person. We could think about our examples again. Moses spent time, I mean, we read it 40 days and 40 nights with the Lord. He wasn't eating or drinking. He's just there in fellowship with God. Abraham walked with God, believed God, had fellowship with God, Jesus and the apostles. I mean, they're following around for three years. He's spending all kinds of time with them. And so I don't know that I feel like I'm friends with God tonight. Well, how much time have you spent with him? How much time have we spent praying? How much time have we spent reading his word and communicating with him, letting him speak to us through his word? How much time have we spent speaking with him in prayer? How much time have we spent time with him in similar interests? You know what you say, what's God into? The gospel, church, these type of things. Look at Proverbs 18, verse 24. And this is a good principle for just friendships in general. A man that hath friends must show himself friendly. I don't have any friends. Well, how friendly are you? You know, are you a friendly person? Or when people come around, you're just scowling all the time. You actually smile, shake hands, say hello. Be nice, be respectful, treat people well. You know, you'll probably end up with some friends that way. But if we just go around, you know, just all the time, big, you know, black cloud over our heads, we're probably not going to have any friends if we go around treating people poorly. A man that hath friends must show himself friendly. You know, that obviously is good for our own interpersonal relationships here on earth. You can take that same principle and apply it to your relationship with God. How do you treat God? How friendly are you towards him? When you read something in the Bible or you hear something from the Word, you know, preached, you just kind of go, oh, I can't believe he says that. What? I don't need to hear that. Don't be surprised if God's not your friend. Like, we need friends. Don't ever develop this attitude in life, well, I don't need anybody. Oh, yes, you do. You're going to end up being a weirdo. You're going to be one of these weird guys that just all your friendships are, you know, your friendships are online. That's not a friendship, friend. Real friends get together and they look each other in the whites of the eyes. And you need friends. That's what it says there at the end. And there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. I mean, wouldn't that be great to have that side of God in your life? Well, I know God's with me. Well, I know God's sticking close to me. I know God's got my back. I know God's my friend. He's going to be there for me. He's going to be loyal. He's going to come through with me when I need him. That'd be great. But you know what? That's, again, a two-way street. Don't expect God to be there for you if you're never there for him. You know, if we just treat God as some, you know, some stranger, just some loose acquaintance, you know, God might have that same attitude towards us. I mean, I know we're always be as child when we're saved. We're always going to be the child of God. But not every child is a friend of their parents. And not every parent is a friend of their child. You know, that's a relationship that's developed, okay? Go to John, if you kept something there, John chapter number 15. You know, friends spend time with one another. And if we don't feel like God, we know much about God, chances are we just haven't spent much time with God. And look, God's a very deep person. There's a lot to get to know about God, a lot to understand about him. You know, and obviously we're not going to go climb up some mountain and have God come down and put us in a rock and speak with us like he did Moses. That's a very unique circumstance, but it's not an exclusive relationship. The circumstances are unique. The relationship is not exclusive to Moses. We can be the friends of God. It's just not going to happen the same way. How's it going to happen? By getting in this book and letting God speak to us through this word and having a tender heart towards the things of God. God will move in our hearts. It happens, and it's a wonderful thing. John chapter 15, verse 14. Look at that, 14. It says, ye are my friends. We would love to just put a period right there. Whoo, right? No, if, it's a big if, if you do whatsoever, if you do whatsoever, I command you. So there's a clause here. If you do what I command you, then you're my friend. If you do the things that I expect of you, then my friend. And look, we wouldn't command our friends. Of course, this is the Lord here speaking, but we might ask things of our friends. Maybe we get in a jam or pickle or one of our friends. We might ask something of them, hey, can you help me out? And if they just were constantly, felt inconvenienced and just constantly never wanted to help us, we'd say, I don't know how much that person really is my friend. Because don't friends help each other out? Don't they do things that are asked of them? You find out who your friends are when you got to move, right? You find out real quick, you know, hey, I'm moving. Oh man, I'm busy. Really? I know your schedule. Nope, something came up. And look, I get it, things came up. But the point is this, you know, it's just an illustration that, hey, you know, our earthly friends ask things of us and we do them for them because, you know, we love them, we care about them, we want to help them, we want to stick close to them. And we want them to know that they're our friend. We want to know that we're friendly with them. And that's sometimes how we show it is we look for opportunities to help. Jesus says, hey, you're my friends if you do what I command you. If you do the things that are written here, well, what does he command? Well, we better find out. That's, you know, we better start spending time in church, spending time in the word of God. Find out the things that are commanded. I mean, do you want me to get up right now and start going through it all? Because we could be here for a while. You got all night to start going over all the things God's commanded us? You know, I'm just trying to get that one point across to you. Look, God, you know, wants to have a relationship. God wants to be our friends. But we need to spend time with him and we need to do those things that are asked of us. And if you don't feel like doing the things that are commanded of you, then that just tells me that you aren't interested in having God as your friend. You know, God commands something, you say, well, I'm going to do it different. Then you must not want God as your friend. What other conclusion could you come to when somebody acts like that? You show them here, here are the things that God has commanded of us. I'm not interested in that. Then you don't want God as your friend because he said, if you want to be my friend, you'll do the things that I command you. Last point, and I'll wrap it up here, but we've looked at, you know, how, what this idea, and again, like I said at the beginning, this is not an exhaustive list. This is just a few points. How do you befriend God? How do you make friends with God? Well, understand that friends, you know, they share common interests. What common interests do you have with the Lord? You know, what things are you involved in that God's like, well, I like that. That's what I'm concerned about. Well, I'm into that too. You know, I like Bible reading. Well, hey, I'm kind of into that too. God's saying, well, you know, I'm curious. Oh, you like the Bible? Well, you like reading this book? Interesting thing about that. I'm the one who wrote it. You know, we got a common interest now, right? You know, maybe we're spending too much time in other things that God has no interest in. Things that maybe aren't necessarily just out and out sinful. People just look at the book and they go, well, is it a sin? No, okay. Well, then I'll go ahead and do it. Yeah, but what if it gets in the way of you spending time with God? What if it's costing you that relationship? What if it's something that God might say, well, it's not necessarily sinful. It's just a big waste of time. It's not anything I'm interested in. It's not spiritual. I'm not saying you can never do anything that's not spiritual, but are you doing something? Are you doing some things that God has an interest in? Are you doing anything that God has an interest in? They share similar interests. That's what friends do. They spend time with one another. And lastly, they treat each other well. They tell you the truth and not lies. You know, that's the irony. That's why people don't want to read the Bible. That's why people don't want to come to church where the Bibles preach because they're going to be told the truth. The irony is that's what a friend does. Friends don't lie to your face. You know, friends tell you when something's wrong. Friends say, hey, you know, your shoe's down, your fly's down. They're not just going to let you embarrass yourself, right? They're going to say you got a little something on the, you know, you got a little schmutzen on the punim, right? You got to clean that up. They'll see something going on in your life. They'll say, hey, I'm a little worried about you and I'm expressing this not to make you feel bad because I love you and I'm your friend and I want you to do well. They treat each other well. They tell you the truth and not lies. Go to Proverbs 27. We're going to wrap it up in Proverbs. Not this verse. Don't get your hopes up. But in that book, he says in verse six, faithful are the wounds of a friend. And the Bible says, let the righteous smite me. It shall be an excellent oil upon my head. It won't kill me. Let the righteous smite me. You know, let someone godly, let somebody who loves the Lord come around and tell me, you know, that I'm doing something wrong and get me straightened out. And I'll look at that person and say, well, that person's my friend. Because faithful are the wounds of a friend but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. I mean, the enemy will act like your friend. They'll talk like your friend. They'll treat you nice and they'll let you just go right off the cliff in your life and just go, see you later. Nice knowing you. You know, a friend's going to grab the wheel. Say, look out, there's a cliff. They encourage you to do the right thing and not the wrong thing. So ask yourself, you know, the friend test, you know. If you would go to Proverbs chapter 17. Proverbs chapter number 17. You say, how do I know I should be friends with certain, whether or not I should be friends with certain people? Well, one, you could ask them, what are they encouraging you to do? Are they encouraging you to do the right thing or the wrong thing? Are they encouraging you to get in church or out of church? Do they encourage you to do the things of God or not do the things of God? Are they trying to get you into sin or away from sin? Are they trying to get you into ungodly things or godly? I mean, that's what you have to ask yourself. Should I have this friendship in my life? Is this a good friendship? What are they trying to encourage you to do? The right thing or the wrong thing? It's so funny. People always ask, you know, not always, but often people will ask me something. They'll say, is this wrong? If I did this and that, would that be wrong? It's like, and a lot of times I'll just ask them, well, what do you think? I say, yeah, that's what I think too. A lot of people think, they already know the answer. They just come to the pastor, they come to the preacher, they come to the deacon, they're just saying, well, maybe he'll rubber stamp this. Or maybe, you know, he knows the Bible better. Maybe he could, you know, let me wiggle my way out of this. But look, if I did that, if someone came to me and said, hey, I'm thinking about doing this, and it was just clearly wrong, and I just said, yeah, you could probably get away with it. Am I really being your friend? You know, if I gave you a little kiss, they said, no, it's okay, you go ahead. That's deceitful and I'm your enemy. If I said, hey, actually, you know, that's a sin. Here's what the Bible says, you shouldn't do that. You know, actually that would be wrong for you to do that. You know, and it might hurt, it might not be what you want to hear, but you know what, that's how you know I was your friend. And that goes for anybody. So how do I know if I have the right friend? Well, ask yourself, what kind of influence are they? What are they encouraging you to do? Proverbs 17, verse 17, a friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. You know, a friend's always gonna love you. They're always gonna influence you to do the right thing. They're always gonna be looking out for your best interests and not their own. Go to Proverbs 27, where it says, we will close there, Proverbs chapter 27. Here's another way you could test your friends, see if the friend test. Is this a friendship that I should have? What if the authority in your life knew how you were behaving with them? You know, you have this friend and when you're with this friend, you do certain things. You get involved in certain activities. Ask yourself, if my parents knew, if my spouse knew, if God knows, and God does, if they knew what I was doing right now, would they be happy with what I'm doing or displeased with what I'm doing? If the answer is they wouldn't be happy, you probably have the wrong friend. If you have some friend that's getting you into something and you know that it goes against the word of God or it's something that, you know, some godly influence of your life would be shocked that you're involved in, you have the wrong friend and you need to get another one or none at all. It'd be better to have no friends than the wrong one. That's a good test. Look at Proverbs chapter 27 verse 10. It says there, thy own friend and thy father's friend forsake not. You know, friendships are very important. We need to have friendships in our lives. We just need to make sure they're the right ones and not get mixed up with the wrong people, you know, and because they will have a profound influence on you and it will not be the other way around. The good will not make the bad good. It's always the other way around every time. You know, and we can have friendship with God. You know, that's the title of the sermon, Befriending God. Salvation is free, isn't it? Praise the Lord. But friendship with God is going to cost you something. You know, having the friends with God. I mean, think about with Moses. He had to go up the mount and just the thought, just that one thing right there, some of us go, well, I don't know about that. Hiking, incline, long walks. Eh, can't we just Skype? And can we FaceTime, Lord? It's like, no, you got to climb up the mountain, Moses. You got to get up to the top. It costs him something. You know, I don't think that was a very hard walk when you know the Lord's waiting up there. And look, if getting sin out of our lives and getting other relationships out of our lives and getting, you know, right with God, it's going to lead to a friendship, then wouldn't you say it's all worth it? When you say, man, this is worth it because now I have this relationship with the Lord. You know, instead of spending my time, you know, scrolling through some feed somewhere, I'm in God's word. And now God is pleased, and now we have a similar interest. Now, instead of, you know, talking to somebody about, you know, whatever's going on in the world, now I can have something to meditate on and talk to God about. Or just sit back and go, wow, God, I just read that in your word. That's pretty amazing. You know, have a similar interest. It's going to cost you something though, isn't it? It's going to cost you that time, scrolling or flipping or whatever. You know, I'm just using it as an example. Thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not, neither go into thy brother's house in the day of Calamity, for better is a neighbor than a brother that is far off. We need to have these friendships in our lives. And look, the most important friendship any of us need is the friendship with God. You know, and I started out trying to just kind of say, wow, think about it. You can be friends with God, but really you need God as your friend. We want God on our side. You know, we need to have God as our friend. It comes at a price. So you know what? Pay the price and befriend God. Let's go ahead and have a word of prayer.